Photo by Mark Strozier

You know when you are about to take a shower and you touch the water to see its temperature? The reason we do this is because we have to be careful before jumping right in, otherwise we may get burned or frozen. We do it because we analyze the situation before taking action. Well, social media should be approached in the same way: you look at it, you touch it, before jumping in!

Some recommendations to avoid making big mistakes in social media:

Observe The Mechanics

Take enough time to look at the way people talk to each other, to analyze the tools, to understand how much time everything demands, and how much time people dedicate to social media in general. The reason you need to observe this is because these people are your customers. If you want to talk to them, and eventually sell to them, you have to do it using the same systems and mechanics that they use. It’s like a team. If you play with the same rules than they do, then they’ll let you in. We don’t demand a lot, but the problem is most companies are too anxious and impatient, so they ignore our way to do things around social media. Don’t be one of those companies.

Detect The Values

We are real people online and offline. First of all, never ever consider us just numbers, because we’ll notice, and we’ll leave you. Second of all, you need to take time to detect the values that we consider important for us online. When it comes to companies and what we expect from them, things like consistency, transparency, accountability go a long way. We need to see that you are being as serious and as human as we are. Novelty is also a value that means a lot commercially speaking in social media.

Provide What’s Lacking

The single and most relevant reason for waiting and looking at social media before acting, is because if you don’t know what you are getting into, how are you going to know what to provide? By listening to us, your customers, and the conversations we have you are enjoying a front row seat in the “market needs” theater! If you are patient and look hard enough, you’ll start realizing that there are too many unsatisfied needs still. That’s where you come in. Observe and provide, a formula for success.

Learn From Their Rights And Wrongs

There’s a lot of complaining in social media, and you can’t look the other way, acknowledge it immediately and be ready for it. But there’s also a lot of congratulating, so you should acknowledge that as well and aim for that. Look at other companies and what they are doing. Analyze their successful steps and their mistakes. This is one of the biggest advantages of social media: every company’s consumers’ opinion is now public! Listen and learn.

Carlos Miceli. Argentinian. Questioner of things. OwlSparks’ blogger. Freelance writer. Entrepreneur. Every day philosopher. Skill learner.

Tags: Blogging, community, networking, recommendation, Social Media, Strategy, the right way, trust